Bank-protecting means



Feb. 26, 1929.

E. M. RUNKLES H AL BANK PROTECTING MEANS Filed April 14, 1928 3Sheets-Sheet gwwntom E/Zffu III Z66 l, eis

Feb. 26, 1929. 1,703,751

E. M. "RUNKLES ET AL BANK PROTECTING MEANS L L Z,

u H T Zjwwntoq Feb. 26, 1929. 1,703,751

E. M. RUNKLES r AL BANK PROTECTING MEANS Filed April 14, 1928 3Sheets-Sheet 3 gwuuntou v Z/IHunZ Iea 3 Iaiaa Gwen/neg Patented Feb. 26,1929.

UNITED STATES 1,703,751 PATENT OFFICE.

MAE RUNKLES AND CHARLES ISISA, OI DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

BANK-PROTECTING MEANS.

Application iiled April 14,

This invention relates to means for protect-ing banks from robbers, andgenerally speaking the invention consists in the provision of awatchmans cage of steel or other bullet-proof material located adjacentto or forming part of the entrance passageway and having therein a sinal light which is adapted to be flashed w enever one of the tellers orother ofiicials of the bank presses a circuit closer located in hisparticular cage, so that the watchman may be warned and, while thorouhly protected himself, may shoot the rob ers or hold them up at thedoorway as they are about to make-their escape.

The invention further consists in the provision of means whereby apolice alarm may be soundedat the same time that the signal within thewatchmans cage is energized so that the police may immediately come incase of trouble and without any special call other than the signalstated.

A further object is to provide a shield for a window or door 0 eningleading into said passageway, this shield being adapted to be shifted toor from a closed osition and to be held in any position desired and tobe moved by mechanism of such character that the shield cannot be movedfrom the exterior of the watchmans cage,'a-nd in this connection toprovide an entrance door to the watchmans cage which is also providedwith means whereby it may be locked from the inside so that no banditscan ossibly'enter the cage to kill or intimidate t e watchman.

Other objects have to do with the details of construction andarrangement of parts as will appear more fully hereinafter.

Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, whereinFlgure 1 is a plan or diagrammatlc view of a bank having our bankprotecting means applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the watchmans cage orarmored compartment Figure 3 is an elevation of the door;

Figure 4 is a rear elevation partly in section of the means forsupporting the slidin shield of the cage;

igure 5 is a section on the line 55 of Figure 4;

Figure .6 is a longitudinal section on the line 66 of Figure 4, showingin plan the means whereby the door may be operated;

Figure 7 is a diagrammatic view showing cages, prefer 1928. Serial No.269,968.

the electrical connections to the signal light and to the burglar alarm;

Referring to these drawings, Figure 1 shows a diagrammatic plan of abank or like instltution and discloses the preferable position of thewatchmans cage or armored room. A designates the general banking hall orfoyer and B a series of tellers or cashiers cages or the cages for otherofficials of the bank. Entrance is secured to the general hall or foyerby the entrance hall C. It will be" understood, of course, that this ispurely diagrammatic. The watchmans cage, which is designated generally'10, is preferably disposed at the entrance or hall, and preferably oneside wall of the watchmans cage forms one of the walls of the hall orentranceway C. The ea c 10 is of sheet steel having any desiredthickness and construction and preferably has four steel walls and asteel ceiling. These may be constructed in any suitable manner andpreferably will be entirely smooth upon the exterior of the cage. Thecage is provided with a door opening into the general hall or into aprivate passageway through which the watchman enters or leaves the cage.It is also provided with an opening 12 constituting an observationopening, this opening being upon the wall fronting the entrancepassageway C.

The cage is preferably lighted by a light 13 and may contain anysultable furniture, though. preferably of metal. The cage is providedalso with a red light signal, designated generally 14. This signal isconnected in a normally interrupted circuit with a source of current bya series of wires 15, each wire running preferably beneath the floor ofthe bank or it might be in the ceiling of the bank.

Each wire asses into one of the tellers ably beneath the floor thereof,and is there provided with a edal-actuated circuit closer 16'of anysuitab e character so that when the pedal, which may be in the form of apush button and adapted to be operated by the foot of the oflicer, isdepressed, a circuit will be closed through the source of power and thelamp 14. The circuit to the lamp 14 may be arranged in any suitablemanner, provided it is capable of being closed by the depression of apush but ton or other circuit closer in an one of the tellers cagesindependently 0 any other cage, so that in case a robber should attemptto hold up or intimidate anyone in any one of the cages, the oflicer maydepress or actuate the circuit closer 16 inhis cage andclose a circuitthrough the red light- 14, thus giving a signal to the watchman. Whilewe have illustrated a red light for this purpose, it will be understoodthat any other signal,

either visual or audible, might be used, but

. given to the watchman in the cage 10, a signal will also be given tothe police. It is to be understood that any suitable circuit closermight be used for the purpose of closing the circuits through the alarm18, a red light 14 or other signal.

Preferably the wires fO1,th circuit are disposed in a single conductingtube and dis posed beneath the floor or embedded within the walls of thebuilding so that the robbers can by no chance out these wires.Preferably also the two circuit closing buttons, switches or equivalentmembers 16 and 17 will be disposed so as to be actuated simultaneouslyby the foot of the oflicer. A circuit closer adapted to be operated bythe foot is preferable to a device adapted to be actuatedby the handlefor the reason that a motion of the hand could be apparent to therobbers, whereas a motion of the foot would not be so apparent, beingconcealed by the partition in front of the cage.

The opening 12 is defined by any suitable metallic frame, preferablyhaving the upper and lower horizontally disposed door guides 19 and 20.The guide 19 is U-shaped in cross section and has any suitable lengthgreater than the length of the door coacting therewith as, for instance,a length of about onethird more than the door, and is provided withrollers 21 extending transversely of the trough-shaped guide. The guide20 is also U-shaped in cross section and has a length greater than thelength of the door. These guides are rigidly connected to the frame ofthe door opening in any suitable manner.

- The bottom guide 20 is formedwith three openings in its bottom, asat-22. Disposed in two of these openings are toothed supporting Wheels23 which are mounted in any suitable manner upon the frame of the doorupon the side wall of the cage, and the door 24 has attached to itsunder face the toothed rack bar 25 with which the toothed supportingwheels 23 are adapted to engage.

Mounted upon 'a shaft 26 is an operating gear wheel or cog wheel 27which engages with the rack'25, and byrotating the shaft 26 the door 24may be shifted backward or forward to an open or closed position or apartly open position, as desired, the door running easily upon therollers 21. The shaft 26 is mounted in a supporting frame 28 whose innerends are attached to the side wall of the cage'and whose outer ends areconnected by means of the web 29 having bearings 30 for the outer end ofthe shaft 26. This web 29 is slotted at 31 and an end wall 32 isdisposed upon the shaft and operates within this slot 31. By this meansthe watchman may shift the door toward or from its closed position,

and when the door is partly open the watchman can command the entrancepassageway and prevent any exit of the robbers therefrom or shoot themdown if they attempt to pass.

While we have illustrated a certain'specifled means whereby the door maybe shifted and have illustrated the door as being shiftable in ahorizontal plane, it will'be understood that other means might be usedfor the purpose and that the door might be shiftable in a verticalplaneso as to leave an elongated, horizontally extending opening permittingthe watchman to rake the entrance passageway and thus prevent anypossible chance of the robbers bolting through the passageway and pastthe watchman. Of course, it will be understood that thewatchmans cage isprovided with an ammunition box 'or racks for ammunition and withsuitable firearms, etc., and that the Watchmans cage is so solidly builtthat the robbers cannot break into it without excessive work and loss oftime.

The entrance door is designated 33 and is also made of sheet steelhinged to the wall of the cage and having means whereby it may be lockedagainst being broken into by robbers. As illustrated,the door isprovided with three hinges 34 engaging over vertical pintles 35 rivetedor otherwise attached to the wall of the cage, the upper ends of thepintles being overturned, as at 36, so as to prevent the hings frombeing lifted ofi the pintlesQ Slidingly mounted upon the door are threeeyebolts 37 which, when projected, engage in the three keepers 38mounted upon the wall of the cage, the bolts being of size and the threebolts bein connected by a bar 39. This bar 39 is shi ted to carry thebolts into or out of projected position by means of a screw 40, the endof which is reduced and passes through an opening 41 in the bar and isswiveled to the bar by means of the head 24. The outer end of the screw40 is threaded at 43 and the extremity of the screw is provided with awheel 44. The

relatively large rgroa'zer Preferably, though not necessarily, the floorof the watchmans cage is elevated above the floor of the bank and thecage is supported by means of legs 46 a few inches from the floor, theselegs being embedded. in the concrete of the floor. The watchmans cage isalso provided with ventilators 47 in the top of the cage, theseventilators flaring downward.

It will be seen that a structure of the character described assurescomplete protection to banks and that with such a construction installedthere is no chance for a bank robber to get out of a bank without beingcaptured or killed. The watchman, being in the cage at all times, is inreadiness for any emergency that may arise. The view door or shield atenables the watchman on duty to view all persons passing into or out ofthe bank and to hold up the robbers or shoot them down whenever he getsa signal and when the robbe'rs attempt to pass out through the exit. Ofcourse, at this time he has the shield or door 24 open sufliciently touse his gun. The watchman on duty can also view the interior of the bankthrough the view opening so that he can see what is taking place at thetellers windows. Even if a particular teller or oflicer is unable toactuate the signal in front of him,other tellers orotficers,seeing hispredicament, can actuate their circuit closers and thus actuate thesignal for the watchman to guard the door. Furthermore, the actuation ofany signal immediately signals the police, showing that there is troubleat the bank so that they can arrive as soon as possible to intercept therobbers. When the robhers start to leave the bank, the watchman insidethe cage holds them up with his gun until the police arrive and he canthen turn them over to the police.

It will thus be seen there is no way for the robbers or bandits toescape. In many banks a number of bank guards are kept on duty at alltimes loitering withinthe foyer of the bank to be used in case anattempt is made to hold up the bank.

It will be obvious have no protection, tioned within the watchmans cage,would be completely protected, thus reducing very greatly the amount ofwages now spent for bank guards and very greatly increasing theprotection given to the bank, as it would be practically impossible forany robbers to pass the watchmans cage without being killed or wounded.

We claim In abank having ofiicers cages and an entranceway, a watchmansarmored cage dis posed along said entranceway forming one wall thereofand having a view opening, a shield therefore adjustable across the viewopening from within the cage, an alarm signal disposed within-thewatchmans cage, a police signal disposed exteriorly of the bank, andmeans independently operable disposed in each one of the ofiicers cageswhereby both signals may be simultaneously energized.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiix our signatures.

that these bank guards nLsrn MAE RUNKLES'. CHARLES ISISA.

whereas a watchman sta-

